The present invention relates to a freight car comprising of a running carriage, an undercarriage, and a box-shaped container connected to the two and comprised of a framework with end walls, lateral posts, and longitudinal supports connecting the end walls and the lateral posts. The end walls are closed while one or both of the side walls have a closable opening for loading and unloading.
Freight cars are used for transporting goods on rail and must comply with different specifications in order to accommodate the different types of goods to be transported. In principle, it is desired to be able to transport as many different goods as possible with a minimal number of differently designed freight cars. For example, it may be desired to transport within a single type of freight car raw materials such as wood cuttings for producing partical board, wood flooring (parquet) and similar wood products into the processing plant, and, subsequently, after removal of the wood chips to use the same freight car for the finished products, in the disclosed scenario, for example, for the transport of partical board to the customer. In this context it is especially important that loading and unloading can be performed in the shortest possible time and to ensure during transport within the freight cars that sensitive raw products and finished products are not damaged. The basic goal of freight transportation is to shorten the transfer times by employing specially designed freight cars for the different types of goods and by using special loading and unloading devices.
In general, each freight car is substantially comprised of a running carriage with at least two axles, an undercarriage with brake devices and pull and push devices, and a type of container which is either fixedly connected to the undercarriage( by screwing, riveting or welding) or movably, e.g., pivotably, thereto. The undercarriage is the actual main support body for receiving the vertical load, the bumper forces, and the pulling forces as well as vertical and lateral mass forces caused during transport. The construction of the container, on the other hand, is basically dependent on the specifications for the goods to be transported with respect to quantity as well as quality as well as the conditions for loading and unloading. In addition to vessel type containers or funnel-shaped containers, freight cars, in general, have a box-shaped container comprised of a frame work of rolled profiled members that provide a truss system with lateral posts and connecting upper longitudinal supports. The cars may be open in the upward direction or covered or maybe provided with a closable roof structure and may have openings for loading and unloading. Open freight cars allow access to the cargo space from above while cars with a fixed cover and lateral sliding doors or double doors at the end walls, opening the entire cross-section of the box container for loading through the respective ends, are provided.
Especially for the transport of dry bulk materials such as wood chips etc., which are used in the paper industry or for producing wood products such as partical board, it is disadvantageous that for loading or unloading only small openings are provided either by the double doors at the end walls or by lateral sliding doors and that for opening and closing of these doors great forces must be applied against the resistance of the load to be transported.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a freight car of the aforementioned kind that avoids the aforementioned disadvantages and provides for loading and unloading from above or through the side walls, over the entire roof cross-section, or side wall cross-section whereby opening and closing of the loading and/or unloading openings can be performed in a simple manner manually without requiring excessive forces.